Blog

4 Do’s and 4 Don’ts for Businesses Using Social Media

Image Credit: Jason Howie/Flickr

As a business owner, you know the importance of social media as a way to make a connection between your business and customers. Whenever potential clients are looking for a new product or service, they generally start their search on social media, not only to learn more about your brand, but also to see what others are saying about a brand or business.

While more companies are creating social media strategies in their marketing, not every strategy is effective.

If you want to guarantee a more effective strategy, Caitlin Burns, a New York-based business strategist for media companies, has outlined a few social media tactics for brands to definitely use and ones to avoid.

1. Know who you are.
Understand your identity, your brand’s identity and the voice of who is speaking on any social media platform. You’re the one who knows your product, production, company or brand best. Being able to communicate that is the first thing I recommend for clients so that on whatever platform they use, people have a sense of who is doing the speaking. The rest of the tactics come down to language, and specific things that you might do to turn a phrase on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

2. Don’t wait until after the fact.
You don’t want to find yourself without a sense of what’s coming next, or responding to controversy in a way that doesn’t seem like it’s coming from the same person who created a status update or tweet. You can get in a lot of trouble if you say one very appealing thing, but you can’t replicate it. Another problem is if what you say goes against what you do in the company.

3. Understand your audience.
It’s important to know who you’re targeting. What do they do? When do they live online? With a savvy social media expert, you’ll be able to figure these things out. Understanding your goals will allow you to see how your successes and failures are working — social media allows you to see that faster than any other platform.

4. Don’t make assumptions about your audience.
It is a mistake to think your audience is going to act a certain way just because you think they will. Treat your audience as a subject, not as an object. Your work on social media is a dialogue, a conversation between you and that individual.

Look at how your audience is changing. Learn about them by communicating with your social media team on a regular basis. They are the front-line people who can help you understand what’s working and what isn’t — what people are really engaging with and what they couldn’t care less about. This is an opportunity to quickly understand how your brand is being received.

5. Plan ahead.
Unless you yourself are a savvy social media strategist, it’s probably worth the energy and expense to bring in someone who is an expert. You need someone who is immersed in these platforms to help you measure your goals. Whether your team is very experienced or inexperienced in application, a good strategy is going to put you in a great place to execute….

Lead generation is the pre-cursor to customer acquisition. Some businesses use lead generation systems to create targeted advertisements for brands. But for most part, lead nurturing involves building relationships with potential customers, earning their trust, and converting them into customers.

Lead generation emerged as an alternative to cold-calling, which has become somewhat obsolete in today’s connected, mobile world with internet-savvy consumers. It is not difficult to imagine why only a mere 2 per cent of cold calls result in an appointment. Lead generation focuses on consumers who are either ready to make a purchasing decision or interested in your product but not ready to buy yet.

How does a lead generation system work?

At its core, lead generation helps you identify signals that your target audience is ready to be funneled along the sales journey. You can reach out to qualified leads before they can contact your sales team. This is a crucial benefit in today’s business landscape where buyers can get information about your brand without speaking to your sales representatives. Unlike cold-calling, where you’re trying to convince an uneducated early-stage buyer, lead generation offers a way to enhance buyers’ existing interest and reach out to them at the most opportune times.

What are the various components of a lead generation system?

A lead generation system is the sum of many techniques. They include websites, search engine optimization (SEO), paid search (PPC), social media, email marketing, webinars, tradeshows/conferences, print advertising and direct mail. Some are more effective than others, and the digital marketing techniques are especially significant in creating a healthy pipeline of qualified leads.

Businesses may use automated lead generation systems (software) that automate sales and marketing actions such as identifying prospects, in order to save busy marketers time and energy. Such a system may automate repetitive tasks like sending emails and managing social media engagement. A good automated lead generation system combines automation technology, rich data research and human data analysts to implement a customized auto-response mechanism. It also provides prospect engagement reports, and monitors performance for better optimization.

I was inspired to write these few words this morning by a young lad that was on duty at the school crossing this morning.
It’s Tuesday morning its a nice crisp Canterbury winter morning, as I was walking my daughter into her school we had to cross the school crossing.
The lad that was on the crossing lollipop on the opposite side looked up and gave me a big smile, I returned the smile with a “Cheers”, he responded with a big hearty “no problem, enjoy your day sir” He didn’t know it but yes he “made my day”.
With marketing it is important that in our daily activities we are making someones day, it can be anyone, you never know how you affect someone but you can be rest assured that the mindset you create will attract success.
What this boy didn’t know:
1. I was feeling flat, it has been a touching weekend in my personal life.
2. I was struggling with the smile until I viewed his.
3. The teacher that was supervising the crossing with him was visibly impressed.
4. A fellow parent on the walk into school also commented on it as well.

He put a positive spin on my day and yes now I feel awesome telling the story, I’m sure he will feel equally as good, if not more because he would have done it to many more people this morning also.

My only regret about it is “I didn’t have my phone on me to take a photo”.

I would like to find out more about this lad – I reckon he would be successful in what he does, happy and well liked by his fellow students and teaching staff.

As you go about your day today think about, Is what I’m doing making someones day? It’s good to remember that you are on display in everything you do both in your personal life and in your business. Are you and your company making someones day